The is important to the locals, the villagers, holidaymakers as well as the wildlife coming for the woodlands, the beach and a quiet place to live. Foolowing the letter about speed in last week's Crail Matters, I am giving people another chance to voice their feelings about this matter. In addition, many people have found the manager of the site unnessarily rude and confrontational for no apparent reason Simply go to this website and have your say: https://bit.ly/2PzUvYd If you are not online, give your name and postcode to me [email protected] Tracy Fryer

Humans have already caused irreversible climate change and ecological devastation. The impacts of which are being felt around the world. Global temperatures have already increased by 1.1 degree Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric CO2 levels are above 400 parts per million (ppm). This far exceeds the 350ppm deemed to be a safe level for humanity and all the other species that we co-exist with and depend on; In order to reduce the chance of runaway global warming and limit the effects of climate breakdown, and ecocide, it is imperative that we as a species reduce our CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) emissions from their current 6.5 tonnes per person per year to 1 tonne as soon as possible, and live within the resource means of our planet.; Councils around the world are responding by declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ and committing resources to address this emergency and Orkney is in a unique position to contribute to cutting emissions through its leading role in developing renewable energy. The full text of a motion that we will ask the Council to pass will be published on the Extinction Rebellion Facebook page.

Edinburgh Airport recently submitted a new attempt to more than double the number of flights per hour by changing the airspace rules aircraft depart and arrive under. https://airspacechange.caa.co.uk/PublicProposalArea?pID=163 This is detrimental to the local environment in other ways too. With no limits on night flights, local residents may find themselves woken early or suffering sleep disturbance. The scientific evidence is now beyond challenge. Burning fossil fuels is causing a rise in global temperatures which threatens the survival of many species, and many humans as well. Edinburgh's proposal would take their peak departure rate from about 20 per hour, to about 50, representing 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission per departure hour. Assuming 12 hours equivalent per day that's 26 million tonnes of emissions per year from increased flights from Edinburgh. At a time when the world has realised we must take dramatic action to reduce carbon emissions to zero as quickly as possible, airport expansion is the wrong thing to do. Lack of sleep has been shown to speed up aging and cause psychiatric and physical illnesses. (See Martin Walker, amongst others.)

Dr Herds Veterinary Rehabilitation Clinic and Veterinary Accident and Emergency Clinic was a first in Scotland , It was closed due to contamination and burning of controlled waste fire from a contaminating car repair Garage. This could have resulted in the death of Dr Herd, indeed it closed her clinic . Both these Agencies should have acted sooner to protect Lesley and the surrounding environment , Please help me get this national disgrace investigated . These public bodies are using law to protect them from legal action .. It is in the public interest to hold them to account . See more here: https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/glasgow-vet-forced-practice-garage-15264540

How many times have you forgot your carrier bags when out shopping and had to buy more adding to the loads you already have at home ? People hoard carrier bags because they are afraid to throw them away because they care what happens to them afterwards . This would enable people to take their excess bags to the supermarket to be re-used by forgetful customers. Bags would be used again and again and would completely eliminate sales of new bags , lets face it there's enough in circulation to last years we just aren't managing it properly.

Plastic pollution is one of the biggest threats to our planet and wildlife, for years big companies have been criticized for their contributions to waste. Recently Macdonald's introduced paper straws in an effort to reduce their plastic waste, this resulted in a petition to 'bring back plastic straws' which so far has gained nearly 40,000 signatures, if you think this is ridiculous please sign and show your support.

McDonald's sells over 1 Billion happy meals every year around the world. Included in these are hard plastic toys inside plastic packaging, millions going to landfill every year, especially in the western world. We need to educate our children that this fast, throw away attitude is killing the planet. Put pressure on to McDonald's to stop this tradition that has no place in today's world.

In recent days fires have been raging on the surrounding moors damaging the sensitive ecology , using up valuable resources, threatening peoples' property, quality of life and livelihoods. Suggestions have been made that some of these have been started by the misuse of disposable BBQs. I would like to see more local authority endorsed encouragement given to locals and visitors to instead take a picnic (and responsibly removing their own litter) whilst simultaneously educating them about the fire risk posed by even sensible use of disposable BBQs near the moors.

The use of palm oil as an ingredient is one of the biggest causes of deforestation. Deforestation is one of the biggest preventable causes of climate change. Signs on packaging will allow people to make an informed choice. Changing consumer habits will reduce palm oil use and market forces will do the rest. Rain forests and orangutan habitats will be saved and felled trees can be replanted.

Amazon describes itself as the world's largest online retailer, and any small changes it makes could have a substantial impact, for better or worse, on a significant scale. Although Amazon's packaging has long had a tendency to be wasteful, recently matters have become even worse when the company switched from using cardboard sleeves and packets that could be recycled relatively easily to using plastic envelopes and packets that are mostly impossible to recycle. These are harmful to our natural environment in many ways: first, the manufacture of plastic packaging causes toxic micro-plastics to be released into the environment, especially waterways where they can end up poisoning marine life and thus the entire food chain. Next, after use, in the rare cases where the end consumer is able to get the plastic packaging to the appropriate recycling facility, more micro-plastics are released into the environment by the recycling process. Failing that, the packaging ends up in landfill where it will take centuries to break down, or worse still, dumped in developing countries or in the growing toxic monstrosity of plastic choking our oceans. Amazon should listen to the desires of its customers and behave with responsibility towards current and future generations. By choosing packaging without plastic that can be recycled relatively easily, Amazon could make a meaningful difference while setting an excellent example for other online retailers. If Amazon continues to show such disregard for our natural environment, it will continue to do untold harm.

Caged farming on land or water is innately cruel and severely damaging to our environment and the natural habitat of other species. Overcrowding leads to stress, disease and high mortality. Chemicals ineffectively used to treat disease and parasites such as sea lice, (which also transfer to wild fish populations) along with the large amounts of waste material (faeces) pollute the waters, destroy the seabed and biodiversity, wash up along the shore lines and beaches and give rise to health risks to humans and other animals. Dawnfresh Farming Ltd has announced £16 million plans to double their Scottish Trout production, but Rainbow Trout are not native to Scotland (they are larger than our native fish and when they escape their cages predate on the smaller fish). This proposed expansion at Ardentinny and into the Firth of Clyde would be at huge cost to the environment, the existing marine mammal population and human wellbeing and enjoyment of the beautiful coast lines of the West Coast of Scotland adversely affecting Tourism. The intensely populated cages would attract interest from predators such as seals and birds who can became entangled and die in nets and if deemed to be a persistent threat they are shot. An existing seal colony, established over many years and thriving at the proposed site at Ardentinny, Loch Long, would be at significant risk. Loch Long and the Firth of Clyde is one of the last thriving ecosystems for migratory salmonids in the west of Scotland, however Sir David Attenborough has recently accused fish farms of 'threatening the very survival' of wild salmon which is already in decline like everywhere else. The three proposed Firth of Clyde sites (Isle of Bute, Great and Little Cumbrae) at such a narrow point of the Firth means all fish coming from the Atlantic on their way to the river Leven and Loch Lomond are going to pick up sea lice. Loch Long and the Firth of Clyde has seen an increase in populations of porpoises, seals and even pods of dolphins and orcas at times seen far up into the Firth this would be thwarted by use of sonic deterrents at the above proposed sites to protect their stock. Please sign this petition and support me and other concerned parties in protecting our environment for future generations both human and non-human to enjoy safely.

Extinction Rebellion have shown how Waterloo Bridge could function as the people's Garden Bridge. Without traffic the bridge turned into a venue for cycling, walking, gathering, talking, singing and eating. Let's make it permanent.